Friday Afternoon in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem: Are Jews Dogs?

This was taken this past Friday in Sheikh Jarrah. Every Friday, protesters have been gathering there lately to protest the expulsion last August of two families from their apartments after the Israel Supreme Court ruled that the land upon which their homes were built belonged to the Sephardi Jewish community. The evacuated houses were built in the 1950s by the UNWRA in order to house Arab refugees who had fled from West Jerusalem during the 1948 war. In 1967, when Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan and reunited the city, the Palestinian families were permitted to stay on as tenants. Disputing the validity of the ownership of the land, they stopped paying rent. This led to the events that preceded the protests. As you can see, the bulk of the protesters are Jewish and Israeli. What really stood out though was at around 3:19 of the video. One of the middle aged Palestinian women started chanting what sounds like the following: “Falasteene Bladna, al-Yahud klabna” – that would translate into “Palestine is our country! The Jews are our dogs!” – which is kind of odd – I mean the people walking by her in handcuffs were the aforementioned “Jew Dogs” who had been arrested whilst protesting in favor of the Palestinians. Maybe that’s why she was shushed? I mean am I hearing this right?

Sheikh Jarrah is located on the road to Mount Scopus. In 1948, during the War of Independence, local Arabs butchered like dogs 78 doctors, nurses and others who were riding in a convoy on that road on their way to Hadassah hospital. Maybe old habits die hard? I don’t know! If someone has a better explanation for that woman’s chant, please let me know.

As for the protesters, 27 were arrested on Friday and as far as I know, they were all released late Saturday night.

Hat tip to Joseph Dana who linked to the video from his facebook wall.

I see your point and it is important that you noted that, so thank you for posting this. I am often very upset when I encounter this type of rhetoric in the West Bank. But it does not take away from the reasons that I go there and support these types of actions because the issue is about us, Israelis and some stupid women should deter us from that issue. You fail to comment on the level of violence that these specific left wing protesters encounter and the complete lack of violence that the Haredi protesters who are actually violent towards the police encounter.

Why would you not include this obvious imbalance by our forces? Does it not bother you to see this imbalance? Do you know why the protesters were arrested? On what grounds were they realised? Did you see them being violent in this video or any video from the Sheikh Jarrah protests?

Do you not feel that these questions should be addressed regardless of whether you think that the settlers have the right to take over Sheikh Jarrah?

On Friday Meretz Chairman Chaim Oron said â€œItâ€™s unthinkable that every week left-wing protestors are prevented from expressing legitimate protest, while right-wing protestors, who violently and blatantly violate the governmentâ€™s decisions, are being treated forgivingly.â€

Does that ring a bell for you or is it easily dismiss because he is a member of the “left”?

Aw Joseph, c’mon. You should know me better than that by now. I was merely commenting on the Palestinian woman’s incredibly stupid and hateful chanting. You know, we speak Arabic at home. Calling someone a dog is about one of the worst things you can say to them. It, amongst the many Arabic curse words we liberally employed, was the one that was most hateful by far, and was rarely used.

As for violent Haredi protesters, they ought be given no quarter – but Haredim and right-wing protesters are not the same as Palestinian or Left-wing protesters. The dynamic in each individual community is different and the police have far more experience defusing these situations than I do.

That having been said, I’m not a big fan of violence. I had friends and friends of friends at the protest. Also, my cousin is a border policeman at Sheikh Jarrah. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. That goes without saying.

The questions you raise are legitimate ones, regardless of one’s political orientation. In a society that values free speech and the right to protest, questions of police force are relevant to all. I called my peeps Saturday night right after Shabbat and was assured that no one was hurt and everyone was being released. For that I was thankful.

talk about chutzpah: Wow. I’ll give you a moment to wipe the froth off your mouth before I begin.
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There. Feeling better now? Anyone who calls anyone else a Nazi who isn’t actually involved in the systematic murder of people based solely on their race, religion or ethnicity is a dumbass. To put it mildly. In thoughtlessly bandying about the term “Nazi” one is merely exposing one’s stupidity, diminishing the crimes of actual Nazis and disrespecting the memory of the millions and millions of victims of the Nazis – Jew and non-Jew alike. Maybe you don’t know me, but this has always been my mantra.

You say that I “enjoy the suffering of the arabs who have lost their home” and that this is what I do best – implying that you know me. But I have already clearly demonstrated that you don’t. Thank you for exposing your bile and ignorance. Have a nice day.

“The questions you raise are legitimate ones, regardless of oneâ€™s political orientation. In a society that values free speech and the right to protest, questions of police force are relevant to all. I called my peeps Saturday night right after Shabbat and was assured that no one was hurt and everyone was being released. For that I was thankful.”

You should write a post about this issue and look at Sheikh Jarrah and the Haredi Protests. That would something interesting but most likely you are not going to be happy with the results.

Maybe if I wrote a post like that YOU wouldn’t the final result. As I alluded to in the past, different situations demand different responses. A crowd of angry, violent Haredim are treated differently than a crowd of unruly “leftist” demonstrators marching towards a potentially volatile Arab neighborhood who are treated differently than a crowd of angry settlers in Amona or Gaza or wherever. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that the worst case scenario with a crowd of Haredim is going to be very different than a worst case scenario with an impassioned and angry Arab neighborhood. This has nothing at all to do with ideology or politics and everything to do with reality and experience. I don’t doubt that some police officers and border patrol men might be overzealous at times, but you can see higher ranking officers in this video trying to keep the situation in check. So yeah, if I went into in more depth, those are probably the conclusions I would make.

Joseph Dana, the haredim are routinely beaten and hosed down like animals. It’s so strange you mentioned this, because they say THE EXACT SAME THING to me, but in reverse, “why are the leftists who fight against the state able to march, but to us the police show an iron fist for protesting the desecration of shabbos?” one of the reason a very few of the haredi riot violently is because of how they have been treated by the police forces.

The Israeli Supreme Court found that it is indeed Jewish property. End of story. If the rightful owners want to let the tenants stay, fine. If not, then they have the right to have them removed. Every property owner everywhere has that right.

not one single Muslim should bhe allowed to remain in ISRAEL and they can take those traitors to GAZA with them when they leave- poplation transfer-Muslim countries expelled their JEWS and vice versa is fair